Compliance on General Requirements of ISO 9001 Quality Management System

There should be a systematic way to manage the operational processes of the organization to run smoothly and thus, to achieve robust business performance. This issue is resolved by implementing and maintaining a quality management system. When the publication of ISO 9000 family came up, it provided standard general requirements that we may comply to expect effective and efficient management processes. Based on the PDCA Cycle developed by Dr. Walter A. Shewart, this model became the applied principle of ISO’s management system standards. It is in essence, a continuous process of journey in search for quality improvement. Including strict application of the Quality Management Principles which I have explained in my previous article “Establishing a Strong Quality Management System is a Key to a Long-Term Benefit,” we can make the organization closer to obtaining competitive advantage. The standard requirements of ISO 9001 are generic and applicable to all organizations regardless of types, size, and product or services provided. As a result, when these requirements are understood and communicated to people in the organization, it would be easier to meet the standards. Basically, part of the QMS General Requirements is to identify the processes needed throughout the organization and determine the interaction of the processes. In executing operational procedures, it is required to come up with documentation of methods to use and availability of resources and other information for the effectiveness of operation and control. Finally, to implement continual improvement of the QMS, it is important to employ monitoring scheme, measuring and investigating the efficiency of the processes so that responsible people can apply necessary actions to address related problems or non-conformities to achieve planned results and improvement. A clear and documented procedures of processes needed for the quality management system like management activities, provision of resources, product realization and measurement must be explicitly communicated.